GREAT FAMILY

BIBLE PASSAGE: ACTS 18:1-3, 18-19, 24-26

Picture taken from Google

Lesson Prepared by: Krisha of Solomon’s Wisdom FB page

Lesson ideas taken from: https://www.bible.org/

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

 

MEMORY VERSE

Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus: Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.

ROMANS 16:3-4

 

INTRODUCTION:

Sadly, when thinking about family, many don’t have great memories. In the Scripture, there are only four chapters without sin (Genesis 1–2 and Revelation 21–22), and therefore even the Scripture has many tragic stories about families. It shows the devastating effects of sin on the family and last Sunday our pastor preached about the role of church when families are destroyed by sins or the system of this world.

Every one of us wants to have a good or great family, right? No one would say he wanted a bad or broken family. We have a great example of this here in our text in the form of this couple, Aquila and Priscilla.  I believe that God intended for the Christian life to be a family affair.  The Bible teaches that it’s ideal for entire families to love and serve God together.

·         Philippian Jailer in Acts 16:31- And they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." [next few verses say that indeed happened!]

·         Family of John the Baptist Luke 1:15 - For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord…and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.

·         Luke 1:41 - And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:

·         Luke 1:67 - And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied…

 

Paul’s protégé Timothy came from a Godly mother, who was raised by a godly mother herself.  Some parents here were not raised in a godly heritage, and we don’t want our children to experience what we did. Therefore, now that we were already Christians, we want to pass it along to our children.  It’s our job to train up children in “the way they SHOULD go” which is mentioned in Proverbs 22:6.

 

Though we can’t have a perfect family, what if we were asked what would it take to be called a “great family”? What would be the possible answers? And in our text, we see a married couple, worshipping and serving God together but we would see that their life was not a bed of roses. Like all of us, they were experienced trials and sufferings in the family. Hope and pray that this lesson would help us see what great family is or what are the ingredients of a great family.

 

LESSON OUTLINE:

1.  IT MUST BE A SAVED FAMILY (ACTS 18:1-3)

After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth;  And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome:) and came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.  

In the family there are a lot of struggles and problems you need to face. Based on our text, one of the struggles in the family is being pressured from different forces – government, people, or anyone. And what would you feel if you needed to be migrated with your family?

The couple, Aquila and Priscilla, was living in Rome, Italy.  The name Priscilla is a Roman name, and secular history tells us she was from a prominent family of nobility living in Rome.  Aquila is a Jewish name.  So we can see that a young Roman girl has married a young Jewish boy, and that was not acceptable in those days…a huge wave of anti-Semitism had swept that land in those days, and the Romans hated the Jews.  The Emperor Claudius had just issued an edict expelling all Jews from Rome.

vv. 1-2     Aquila and Priscilla were a family under pressure.  It’s always hard to have to pick up and move, especially when it’s moving away from the place where you have grown up.  But this couple wasn’t choosing to move, they were being forced to leave!

 

Article from bible.org about Aquila and Prescilla:

In the year 52 A.D. the Roman emperor Claudius issued an edict expelling all Jews from the city of Rome. It seems, from what the Roman historian Suetonius says, that they were persecuting their Christian neighbors and causing considerable disturbance in the city. Claudius cared little about the reason for the trouble, and even less about who the guilty parties were. He knew they were Jews, and that was enough; so, all Jews were uprooted from their homes and banished from Rome, the innocent along with the guilty.

 

And this family is an illustration for the 21^st Century family of today…also under incredible pressure from without, and from within.  Stress and tension are a huge part of the home today with the pressures of work, time, and finances we choose to live under. And children enter the picture, and the stress goes up, and more and more the older they get.

 

Imagine a family without the Lord, we don’t know how anyone can raise a family today without the Lord and without the help of a good church family.

 

Here’s an eye-opener for all of us today:  if you have a child or grandchild that is 14 today and beginning as a freshman in high school, here’s some things to expect by the time they graduate—

·            2/3^rd’s of their class will have used drugs

·            1 in 5 will be an alcoholic

·            2 in 5 will have consumed 5 or more drinks at 1 sitting

·            20% will use tobacco daily

·            46% of babies born out of wedlock will be to kids their age

·            1/3^rd of all abortions will be performed on girls their age

·            2^nd leading cause of death of kids their age at graduation will be suicide

 

We need a revival in the home…we need a revival of families that starts w/ moms and dads getting serious about serving God—families with a healthy fear of Satan having his way and thus a hearty fervency for drawing close to God and to one another.

 

Aquila and Priscilla were a family under pressure, but they were also a family under providence.  God was working out their problems behind the scenes…for their good and for His glory!  God is in the process of bringing something quite wonderful into their lives.

You see, as they were being kicked out of Rome, and were traveling east toward Corinth, the Apostle Paul was leaving Athens and traveling west to the same place, and when they met face to face, it was the beginning of something wonderful that would last the rest of their lives.  Remember what Paul’s trade was?  A tentmaker. Verse 3- I imagine they were working together…and what do people do when they are sitting down working?  They talk!  And what would Paul have talked about?  It wasn’t the St. Louis Cardinals…he would have talked about Jesus Christ.  He would have shared the wonderful story of the gospel…of Jesus’ birth, His life and ministry, His death and resurrection, and this couple would have been mesmerized at hearing the sweetest story they had ever heard…sounds for sore ears they were, and I believe they were gloriously saved because of it! That’s how our God is…if we get right with him and follow His will, He will cross our paths with others who need Him…at just the right time…in the just the right way.

 

One night a preacher stopped to help man on motorcycle broken down/rejected/drove off/started to rain/went back again/helped him put it in his truck and get it to a shop, put him up for the night, witnessed to him, fed him, led him to the Lord!/his family got saved.

Aquila and Priscilla had a similar experience…not and accident, not coincidence, but providence!  They became a great family against all odds.

 

And to be a great family it must be a saved family…

 

2.  IT MUST BE A SERVING FAMILY (ROMANS 16:3-4)

Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus:  Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.

 

Everything else we read about this couple from then on is about them serving God together.  Years later Paul writes back to the church at Rome…

Romans 16:3-4 “Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus: [4] Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.” What a great couple who laid down their own necks just to save the man of God, Paul. With this attitude and action they made, it shows how deep they were in serving God

 

Article from bible.org about Aquila and Prescilla: For one thing, they made their living together. “For by trade they were tent-makers” (Acts 18:3). Every Jewish boy in New Testament times was taught some kind of trade. Since tents were such a prominent part of Hebrew life, Aquila’s parents chose to have their son learn this practical means of earning his livelihood. Their tents were made of rough goat’s hair fabric which took great skill to cut and sew properly. Aquila had acquired that skill and later taught it to his wife, and she happily assisted him in his business.

Not every husband and wife can work together like this. It takes a mature relationship to work closely under the kind of pressure a job sometimes generates. But that is evidently the kind of relationship Aquila and Priscilla had. They were not only mates and lovers, but they must also have been good friends and companions. They had to be willing to give to each other more than they tried to take. They had to be able to accept suggestions as readily as they offered them. They enjoyed being together and working together. They were inseparable, and they were equals.

So, when they arrived in Corinth, they scoured the marketplace together for a small open-air shop to rent and proceeded to set up their tent-making business. The timing was obviously of God, for no sooner had they gotten settled down in their shop than another Jewish tentmaker arrived in town fresh from an evangelistic crusade in Athens, the Apostle Paul. Whenever he entered a new city, he would stroll through the marketplace looking for opportunities to talk about Jesus, looking for indications of God’s direction for future ministry, and, of course, looking for work to sustain him as he ministered. It was inevitable that he would amble into the tent-making shop of Aquila and Priscilla. Scripture tells the story like this: “After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working; for by trade they were tent-makers” (Acts 18:1-3).

Back to Acts 18…v. 18 - Do you know what’s happening to this couple?  The same thing that ought to happen to each and every one of us after we get saved…regardless of our occupation, our main business ought to be God’s business!  Worshipping and serving Him, teaching and helping others, winning souls and seeing people get saved!

 

Some of us here own or run businesses…but their main business is God’s business.  We have several in some area of service or customer service…but their main business is serving God!

 

I’m so thankful that Aquila and Priscilla understood that tho’ they were tentmakers by trade, their main business was serving God!

A great family is a saved family...a serving family…

 

3.  IT MUST BE A SANCTIFIED FAMILY (ROMANS 16:5)

 Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.

 

That means “set apart”…separated from the world. Romans 16:5 - Likewise greet the church that is in their house. One time when upon observing to our neighbors, I thought one of the families in our neighborhood is a Christian because they act and speak like Christians but when I saw that they bought bottles of beer, I’ve said to myself, “they aren’t”. So, you see, if you are not set apart from the world, your light would be greatly affected. We need parents who are inclined in God’s words and have the discernment who can distinguish “right from almost right” situations and decisions in life. That’s why we need a church to help us build a strong and great family.

 

Did you know it was the 3^rd C. AD before the church ever had such a thing as its own building?  The church is a body of believers, and for more than 200 years the church met in homes of people like this couple.

This reminds me of the simplicity of what is “the church.”  They didn’t have any of the things that we today think we HAVE to have to have church.  They didn’t have a building or padded chair, no PA system or projector and screen, no AC, no advertising, literature, website, like we have today etc.  They did so much with so little…and we seem to do so little w/ so much!  You can feel the spirit move if you’re knee deep in carpet or sitting in sawdust!

 

This couple had a great home, and it led to a great church…so how about the church that is YOUR home?!  Our highest calling is our own children, our own marriage, our own home.

 

I hope everyone here can have a saved family, a serving family, a sanctified family…set apart for the Master’s use!

 

CONLUSION:

A)  THE BOY WITH THE “DRUG” PROBLEM

An elderly lady was amazed at how nice the young man was next door. Everyday he would help her gather things from her car or help her in her yard. One day the old lady finally asked the young man, “Son, how did you become such a fine young man?"

The young man replied, “Well, when I was a boy, I had a drug problem.”

The old lady was shocked, “I can’t believe that.”

The young man replied, “It’s true, my parents drug me to church on Sunday morning, drug me to church on Sunday night, and drug me to church on Wednesday night.”

Source: Unknown